Chapter 12 – Mary had a little… Secret

AN:

Oni: Oh yay another chapter!

Asura: Took you long enough, I mean you even put my story on hiatus… *sobs*

Dain: Now now brother she had her reasons…

Garry: Hey! You two aren't in this story! Shoo! Along with your terrible choice of clothing!

Harry: *ahem* Oni does not own me, or Garry, or Mary, or you know even this story up to chapter ten. She does own the bits and pieces she put in as well as everything afterwards. She also owns the OC in this story, but he's not very prominent, you'll find out about him later I guess. He won't be seen for a while.

Mary: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand on to the story! Yay!

Hearing a whirring noise from his left, Harry got up from his sitting point on the rose to see that the fisherman painting now had an addition.

"Hey Mary, I think the fisherman's painting changed…" Mary immediately got up and ran to the painting, dragging Harry along with her.

"…Hey, look, Harry… He caught something!" Mary exclaimed, and sure enough, on the fisherman's hook was a bright red umbrella.

The fisherman swung his line over, and dropped the umbrella at the small boy's feet. Harry picked up the object, examining it curiously.

"I wonder what we need to do with it…" The blond girl wondered aloud.

"Wait, wasn't there a painting called 'Lady without her Umbrella'? Maybe she needs it…" The emerald-eyed boy offered, before his arm was taken and swung around in the direction of said painting.

"That's a great idea Harry! Let's goooo!" Harry laughed at her antics, and the two of them made their way over to the aforementioned lady.

Looking at the painting, both children noted that the lady looked sad.

"Harry! Umbrella…!" Mary pushed, and Harry tentatively held out the umbrella to the silhouette. The lady grabbed the umbrella and hefted it over her head.

All of a sudden rain poured into the room.

"Huh? Huh?!" Mary exclaimed, "It started raining in the room! …That's so weird!"

Harry looked back at the painting to see that it was raining inside the frame as well, the title of the painting had changed to "Lady With Her Umbrella".

"Come on, let's go Mary, I don't want to get soaked…" And with that the two children ran out of the room.

Once they had exited the room, the raven haired boy checked his clothes only to find that they were perfectly dry.

'Huh…' he thought, 'This makes things easier…'

He looked around.

"Nothing seems to have changed…" the girl in the green dress mused, "Let's sit back down, Harry!"

Walking back to the blue rose painting, Harry and Mary sat down again, waiting for any new development.

Garry's head perked up at the faint sound of water dropping into a container. From where he stood, he deducted that the sound was coming from the other side of the wall. 'Guess I better go back in that red mist room again…' he thought.

Entering the room again, the sixteen year old watched as drops of water fell from the ceiling into the grey vase in front of him. 'Perhaps this is how I'll be able to get to the other end' he mused.

Steadying himself for one of the dumbest –Gryffindor as his father would say – things he has done so far in this gallery, Garry sprinted towards the vase, feeling the now all too familiar sensation of wounds gaping from the work of invisible knives.

As soon as he got to the vase, he placed his withering rose into the now water filled container, sighing in relief before enduring the sensation again as he ran to the end of the room, where a cord hung from the ceiling. He quickly grasped the handle of the cord and pulled down.

Instantly the holes in the ground stopped pumping in the red mist, and the red tinge in the room slowly dissipated.

"Ah…" Garry mused aloud, "That strange gas is gone."

Looking down at his rose to see only two petals left, the teen dropped his rose carefully into the vase, sighing again in relief that he got out of this stunt alive. Turning the head back out the door, Garry spotted a small purple ball on the way to the exit. 'I must have missed it because of all that mist… no pun intended.' He joked to himself before picking up the ball of paint. It, like all the others, vanished in a swirl of purple. 'I wonder where these go… maybe to the pedestals in the first room?' he thought, and decided to head towards the room. On the way however, he was stopped by a rumbling coming from the tree room.

"….?"

Glancing toward the tree room, he observed that the tree now had five red fruits on it. Wondering if the change had any impact on the room inside, he opened the door.

'The bookcases have moved…' he realized, and walked into the new path opened to him. First he picked up the pink ball of paint lying on the ground, which disappeared in a swirl of pink, and then browsed the first two bookcases on the left. Finding nothing, Garry checked the painting of a single ear that was apparently titled "Strained Ear". 'I wonder what it's trying to hear…' the purple headed boy mused before browsing the other two bookcases. Checking the rightmost side first, the teen came up empty, but the last bookcase held something fruitful.

"Collected Works of Guertena" contained painting by Guertena in alphabetical order.

"Wonder if there's anything useful…" Garry mumbled, flipping to the 'S' page.

""Serpent's Spirit" (6248)

Beginning with this piece, Guertena began his focus on abstract art.

But at the time, cubism was more popular, leaving Guertena's various abstract works largely ignored."

'Well that's sort of sad...' he thought as he flipped to the 'H' page.

""The Hanged Man" (6219)

Guertena painted this as a page filler while working for a magazine.

Once this illustration became renowned, it was sold for a limited time as an actual tarot card using the picture.

Presently, it is nearly impossible to find the tarot card."

'Hah!' Garry thought victoriously, 'I already have the tarot card in the Guertena bank vault, I should check those books to see why the gallery is acting like this, maybe they could tell me how to avoid situations like these in the future…'

Finally, the teen in the tattered cloak flipped to the 'M' page.

""Mary" (?)

The last work of Guertena's life.

While the girl appears almost lifelike, naturally, she is not based on a real person."

"….!" Was all Garry could say as he stared at the page in shock.

With trembling hands, he flipped over to the next page.

There she was, the small girl they had come to know. Hands clasped in front of her, head tilted to the side with a small smile on her face, Mary was surrounded by a border of a wooden frame with three roses at her feet.

"W-Why…?" the teen stuttered out, "It can't be… that's…Mary…..?!"

Garry did not notice the "Strained Ear bouncing up and down as he gasped to himself in shock and horror.

"She doesn't exist…? What does that mean…?!"

His face hardened when he realized where the girl was.

"And she's with Harry right now… no way…"

Suddenly, a voice came from the whispering ear.

"I HEARD MARY'S SECRET~"

'This is not good… not good at all…' he thought to himself, dropping the book and backing out of the room, still in shock.

When he got out of the room, Garry noticed something was missing. The decapitated doll head had moved again. Running to the other side of the large room, he found the head next to the room with the bad vibe.

"I picked up something good…

And I'm not giving it to you!

I'm making it my treasure!" read the scrawl in purple paint above it.

'Which is an open invitation too…?' he thought questioningly, checking the doll's head to find a bump of some sort on its cheek.

"…..Something's jutting out from its head…" The purple haired teen kneeled down to get a closer look.

"…What should I do?" he asked aloud. Feeling another pulling sensation, he sighed and gave into the feeling once again, seeing as it had only helped his thus far.

"I suppose I'll look closer… Though I… don't want to touch it." Garry said aloud.

Tentatively checking the doll's head, he realized he had to rip to head open to get whatever was inside it. 'I guess I have no choice that to touch it then…' he thought darkly as he ripped the head open. A red ball of paint fell from its bisected remains. Garry picked it up, watching as the swirls of red took it away.

Once it vanished, the doll's head came to life, squeaked something unintelligable at the teen, then floated into the locked room, shutting the door behind it.

'O…kay… was not expecting that, but then again, what is there to not expect?' the teen mused before checking the previosly locked door, wondering if was now unlocked.

"The door's… unlocked…." He fearfully said aloud, but made no move to go in. The bad vibes had magnified, and unless he has reason to, he was NOT going in there.

Spinning on his heel, Garry decided to g through with his original plan to check the pedestal room for any changes instead.

Inside the room he was greeted by the sight of six balls floating just above their own pedestals, which would have been pretty if not for the fact that the teen had not just been subjected to the sight of a floating doll head just moments before.

He also sadly noticed he was lacking the final ball, the white one, as he gazed at the empty pedestal at the center of the room. 'Why do I think I know where I need to obtain the last one…?' he thought as his mind drifted back to the door he just ran away from.

"I am not ready for this…" he muttered to himself as he walked and sat down on the red rose, steeling himself for what needed to be done.

Getting up from his position, Harry stretched his arms above his head. 'Merlin,' he thought, 'I'm tired of waiting, something should have happened already!' It was after he lowered his arms that the raven haired boy realized Mary was already standing up, listening to the mouth of "Tattletale" whisper something he could not hear. Whatever it was, it made Mary's face turn hard and stony as she continued to listen to the painting whisper.

"Mary?" he emerald eyed boy asked.

Without looking at him, Mary replied.

"…..Mary…..I'm Mary….." Harry looked at her, stunned into silence as she seemingly talked to herself.

"Oho, ohohoho, ohohohohho… Ahahaha, ahahahahahahaha…" She laughed, smiling, with her eyes closed.

"Mary? What's wrong?" Harry asked her, voice shaking, but Mary didn't hear him.

"I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary…" She repeated to herself.

"Mary, you're scaring me…" Harry whispered, "Stop, please?" he begged.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, smiling but her face had darkened, and now she looked sinister.

"Ohohohoho hohohoho…" the blond girl chuckled under her breath. Then she turned around and ran towards the entrance of the room.

"Wait, Mary!" Harry called after her. 'I should really look for her, but she's starting to scare me…' he thought to himself.

'But if I didn't look for her, than what kind of friend am I? No, I'm a Gryffindor, and we don't leave our friends behind! I HAVE to be brave!' With that thought, Harry rushed to where the younger girl had run off to.

He entered the hallway again, hearing the sound of porcelain being broken and the squelch of blood resounding from the walls rhythmically.

"Mary? What's…" Harry's question died in his throat as he saw Mary kneeling don as she stabbed a bleeding mannequin head with her palette knife, blood pouring from the poor head's new wound.

"In my way… in my way… in my way… in my WAY…" said angrily to herself as she continuously swung the palette knife into the roadblock's head. Not wanting to stand the sight of this further, Harry backed out of the corridor.

When he exited the hallway, Harry heard steps behind him.

"Harry…" It was Mary.

"Don't leave me…" she said to him sadly. Harry didn't know what to do, so instead he tried to placate her.

"Don't worry, I won't." She seemed to smile at the comment.

"Thank you Harry!" she chirped, skipping around him.

Shrugging the bad feeling he had about Mary, the raven haired boy decided to do some rounds to see if anything else has changed. Mary tagged along behind him walking slower than before, making the Boy Who Lived slow his pace to accommodate his friend. All the while the blond girl talked and sung.

"Fa la laaah! La la loooh!" she sang behind him as he checked the fisherman, "Ahahaha! It's a song! Original by me, Mary!" at the boy's odd looks at WHY she was singing, the younger child explained, "You should sing when you're sad! You'll be having fun again before you know it!" Harry smiled at that. 'Maybe I should give that a try someday, but not now.' he thought. Walking towards "Tattletale", he heard Mary chuckle behind him.

"Ahah… heehee…."

"What's so funny, Mary?" the emerald eyed boy asked her.

"We passed by a painting of a clown earlier… so the thing rolling down the stairs was the clown's spit! Ahahaha…" 'I don't get how she could be so happy in a place like this…' Harry sighed to himself.

"Let's play dolls… I'll be the mom doll, and Harry can be the dad doll…" She said behind him, but Harry got the distinct felling she wasn't talking to him.

Harry checks the colorless room, which has not changed since the last time.

"I wonder what Garry's doing now?" The raven haired boy turned suddenly at the blue eyed girl's voice, "Crying all alone maybe? I hope we find him soon…" Mary tilted her head in thought.

Garry. Harry's head fell in shame, he almost forgot about Garry! The older child's resolve hardened, he won't let that happen again. 'We have to get out of this alive,' he thought, 'all of us. Mary, Garry, and I... I hope he's safe…'

"…."

"I hope Garry is safe." Harry mused out loud.

"…Yes….. That would be… nice." Mary said, face still stuck with that odd, almost calculating smile. "But if he's not, we'll just have to leave him behind, right?" Harry looked at the girl that was supposed to be his friend in horror.

"No, never! We can't leave him here! He's… he's our friend! Don't say that Mary!" The boy wanted to scream at her for even thinking about don't such a thing, but if the maimed mannequin head had anything to show, it was that Mary was not in a very good mental state at the moment.

"Just saying…" was all the girl had in reply, smile still there, plastered on her face.

"Mary?"

"…."

"What were you doing?"

"Huh?"

At the girl's perplexed face Harry elaborated. "Back there… in the corridor… with the manniquin head…." Recognition seemed to dawn on her as she looked at the boy in surprise.

"Oh, that was… I'm sorry, I'm not too sure either… I was just… All these feelings suddenly…How do you say it?" She looked sad and worried, "Came… gushing out? Um… uh….." The thirteen year old stared at her with worry.

"Don't worry about it! I'll be fine…"

"Okay… if you say so…"

Checking the small library that also had no changes, Harry, who was putting back a book from the shelf, decided to go back to the umbrella room. However, when he turned around he found Mary staring right at him. Her blue eyes now were oddly sinister.

"Hey, Harry, have you ever done loves me, loves me not?"

"That's the game where… where you pick off the petals to guess if someone loves you… right?" Harry guessed, seeing some of the girls at Hogwarts picking flowers saying 'Loves me, loves me not', which now makes him shiver, seeing as everything in thing gallery seems to like the game as well. Mary nodded happily.

"So what's the big deal then?" The boy asked her.

"Well you see…" the younger girl strated, "There's actually a way to always end with "loves me"!" 'I don't think that's the point of the game…' Harry thought sarcastically. The girl in the green dress stared at him with a hard look.

"…Wanna hear it?" he looked at her confused,having a bad feeling where the conversation is going.

"Yeah… tell me more…" Harry said carefully.

"Okay! I'll tell you! Um, when you run out of petals…" 'As one does…' he thought to himself. "You can still count the stem! And that's how you always get "loves me"!" Mary smiled brightly at this, but Harry just felt queasy at the thought for some reason. He quickly smothered the feeling, and pressed on, walking out of the door, with the smaller girl right behind him.

"Harry, do you like your dad?" 'Again with the parent questions?' Harry thought furiously.

"I love him…" the boy with the lightning scar ground out, trying not to lose his temper at such a sore spot.

"Yeah… I love my dad, too." 'At least you're dad is still alive…' he thought darkly. "But I guess I can't meet him…" 'What?', Harry thought, 'Is he dead as well?'

"I've kept looking, but I can't find him." 'Maybe we really are on the same boat then, now I feel bad…'

"Maybe if I can get outside, then…" Harry turned aroung to face the girl.

"I want to get out now… I'm tired of being here…" With those words from the blond girl Harry put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Mary… we WILL get out of here. ALL of us, Garry, me, and you, okay?" Mary smiled at him before lunging forward and hugging him tightly.

"Okay! Thank you Harry!" She chirped brightly, her face bright before fading into a questioning stare.

"Harry, do you know about snow?" 'Snow…' Harry thought back to when he was in Hogwarts, back to the thick blankets of snow that would cover the castle. Back to where he was happy and free, and not trapped within the confines of his bedroom back on Privit Drive or stuck in this gallery.

"Yeah… yeah I do…" Mary smiled at him.

"Wow, that's nice! It's really cold, right?"

"Yeah…. Really cold…" Harry was off in his own mind, as he pictured last Christmas at Hogwarts. 'It seemed so long ago…' he thought glumly.

"I read in a book that you can eat it with syrup! I wonder how it tastes…"'Who would eat snow whith syrup? Actually, it seems nice, I might try that when we get out, just to humor her…' Harry thought to himself. Just before he could go back to what he was doing, Mary's hand crept onto his shoulder.

"Harry… Do you have friends? Like, how many?" 'Friends…' Harry thought to himself, 'Well, I guess the first thing thatt comes t mind is Ron and Hermione, but I also think that Nevelle and Ginny are also good friends… not to mention Hagrid…. And now Garry…' He counted in his head.

"About… six I guess?" Mary's eyes lit up.

"Who are they?" She asked excitedly.

"Well," Harry started, "There's my best friends Ron and Hermione… and then there's Nevelle and Ginny, and Hagrid, who's REALLY tall!" the emerald eyed boy emphasized to the girl, waving his arms as high as he could, making the smaller girl giggle.

"You play with them, right? And sometimes you argue?!"

"Yeah…" Harry replied as he thought of the amount of times Ron and Hermione had bickered.

"And maybe, after you argue, you can come back as better friends that before…!" 'Or you can defeat a troll together, that works too apparently' Harry thought, 'also being stuck in this scary gallery let me make friends with Mary and Garry…'

They walk a little while longer before the raven haired thirteen year old felt a shiver go down his spine. Spinning around, he sees the girl in the green dress still following behind him, her head facing the ground. Harry holds his breath and carefully asks her the question that's been bugging him for a while.

"Huh? Why am I staying behind you?" Harry nodded. "Well, why not…? There's no real reason…"

"…" was all Harry had in reply.

"…."

They stare at each other in silence before Harry turns around back to the raining room. He immediately notices something different about the area, but he couldn't put his finger on it…

"Hey, Harry… the red gas is gone…!" Mary exclaimed. 'Ah, so that's what it was' Harry thought. Seeing as there was nothing else to search, Harry walked through the newly availible area to find a door, which after a quick check was found to be unlocked.

Harry was met with a small room, with a single large painting to his right, and a passageway blocked by a mannequin on his left. Turning back, Harry realized that Mary was no longer behind him. Panicikng, he races back out, only to find that the small blond haired girl was now walking slowly around the rooms. She acted like she was in a trance, going around the rooms and staring at the paintings with a hard look on her face.

"…Mary…?" Harry tentatively asked, "Are you okay?"

No reply. The girl merely kept walking, not even acknowledging his presence. Sighing to himself, Harry once again sat on the blue rose painting on the floor, thinking 'What in Merlin's beard have I gotten myself into?'

AN:

Oni: So that concludes yet another chapter! Tell me how it's going in the reviews!

See you later my pretties!